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American McGee's Alice
Original North American box-art
Developer(s)	Rogue Entertainment
Publisher(s)	Electronic Arts
Designer(s)	American McGee
Composer(s)	Chris Vrenna
Engine	id Tech 3
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, Mac OS X
Release date(s)	October 6, 2000
Genre(s)	Horror, action-adventure, platform
Mode(s)	Single-player
Rating(s)	ESRB: M (Mature) OFLC: MA 15+ ELSPA: 15+
Media	CD
System requirements	Mac OS 8.6 or later, 400 MHz PowerPC G3, 128 MB RAM, ATI Rage 128 or NVIDIA GeForce2 MX with 8 MB VRAM or better, 150 MB hard drive space.
Input methods	Keyboard

American McGee's Alice is a third-person action game released for PC on October 6, 2000. The game, developed by Rogue Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts, is set in the universe of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. Alice was designed by American McGee and features music composed by Chris Vrenna.

The game is based on the id Tech 3 engine first used in Quake III Arena. A PlayStation 2 port was in development but was canceled. Notably, the game's box art was altered after release to show Alice holding the Icewand instead of a bloodied vorpal sword, and to reduce the skeletal character of the Cheshire Cat's anatomy. EA cited complaints from various consumer groups as its reason for altering the original art, though McGee stated the alteration was made due to internal concerns at EA.^[1] A third version of the box art has Alice holding the Cards in her hands instead of a sword or wand. In marked contrast to most computer games, Alice has grown in value and become a collector's item since its release, with new copies selling for $100-200 on auction sites^[2] and used copies selling for close to $100. The game is prized in the order of its release artwork with the Vorpal Sword, a.k.a. "bloody knife," version being highly valued, followed closely by the Ice Wand release and, finally, the comparatively innocuous Hand of Cards version.

Set years after Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, the game features an older, more cynical and macabre incarnation of Alice.

Plot

Shortly after her second adventure, Alice's house is burned down by an accidental fire, killing her family, and leaving her as the only survivor. Due to her survivor's guilt, she tries to commit suicide (bandages can be seen on her wrists), and becomes catatonic. She is institutionalized in Rutledge Asylum, where she remains insane and is consistently mistreated by the workers. Ten years later, the White Rabbit summons Alice to aid a radically altered Wonderland, which became a twisted version of itself as it came under the despotic rule of the Queen of Hearts. The Cheshire Cat serves as Alice's companion throughout the game, frequently appearing to guide her with cryptic comments.

Setting

The game's setting presents a considerably more macabre rendition of Wonderland than seen in Lewis Carroll's original portrayal. Wonderland, being a creation of Alice's mind, has been corrupted by her insanity, which becomes the prevailing theme of the game; if Alice manages to save Wonderland, she will restore her own sanity as well.

The new Wonderland is composed of nine provinces. When Alice falls down the rabbit hole, she finds herself in the Village of the Doomed, the home of the Torch Gnomes. The Village of the Doomed is composed of a network of tunnels and caves, patrolled by the Queen of Hearts' card guards. Beyond the subterranean village is the Fortress of Doors, where the main attraction is a school of insane but harmless children. Within the school lies an ancient book of recipes for magic potions, as well as the ingredients for one concoction in particular which will be useful to Alice.

World map of Wonderland

Beyond the fortress and across a rough, uncharted landscape lies the Vale of Tears, where Alice's friends Bill McGill and the Mock Turtle reside, along with the cannibalistic Duchess. A giant river runs throughout the gloomy, mist-shrouded landscape, and another aquatic location is accessible through a well inside Bill McGill's house. The well is sealed until the Duchess is slain.

On the other side of the Vale of Tears lies Wonderland Woods, one of the largest regions in the game. The woods are initially filled by ponds, cliffs and jump mushrooms, but much deeper into the woods is a region of rock and magma. This section leads to several new regions including the Cave of the Oracle, the Pale Realm, the Jabberwock's Lair, and the Majestic Maze. The Cave of the Oracle is home to a wise entity that is revealed later to be the Caterpillar.

The Pale Realm makes a transition to the surface of a chessboard, as delving further into this area leads to the White Castle of Looking Glass Land, which is home to life-size chess pieces; the White pieces join Alice in the fight against the Red pieces, a deviation from her normally unhelpful "allies" from earlier portions of the game. Alice is twice transformed into a chess piece herself to pass certain obstacles.

Following this is a distorted version of Rutledge Asylum (where Alice has been incarcerated since her parents' tragic deaths). It is run by Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum and also houses the Mad Hatter's laboratory.

The path to the Jabberwock's Lair leads into the Land of Fire and Brimstone, a volcanic region of Wonderland and a reminder of the fire in which her family died. It is here that the terrible Jabberwock—a semi-mechanized servant of the Queen of Hearts and the incarnation of Alice's guilt—resides, in the remains of Alice's old home.

The Majestic Maze ends on the road to Queen of Hearts Land, a region heavily guarded by card guards, boojums, and other members of the Queen of Hearts' personal army.

Queensland is the final province of Wonderland. In it lies the Heart Palace from which the Queen of Hearts commands. Tentacles and other repulsive appendages are seen protruding from every organic wall in this area, and numerous areas even resemble body parts, giving the impression that Alice is travelling through her own body.

Characters

The game's characters are generally based on the inhabitants of Lewis Carroll's original novels, but they do not demonstrate the same identities. Many of them are warped incarnations of their conventional selves. The casebook^[3] of Q. Wilson (a supplement included with the game and written from the point of view of Alice's doctor) suggests that many of the characters Alice encounters in Wonderland are symbolic of real life people who get through to the catatonic Alice in some way. Other characters within the game are metaphors for Alice's own feelings, and because she is unhappy, they have become twisted. Some people (Cheshire Cat, White Rabbit) help her; others (Mad Hatter, Queen of Hearts) try to cause pain, first by taking away those she loves and then by taking her down with them.

Development

Electronic Arts licensed Ritual Entertainment's Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K.² engine, which is in turn a modified Quake III Arena engine. The most notable changes in the engine include the use of the Tiki model system, which enables the engine to use skeletal animation among other things, the Babble dialog system which enables lip synching of audio with character animations, dynamic music system, scriptable camera, particle system and extended shader support.^[4] The changes implemented to the engine for Alice remained minimal however. The game's .bsp files even retain F.A.K.K.²'s headers, albeit sporting a different version number.

An early version of the game featured the ability to summon the Cheshire Cat to aid the player in battle. Though this feature was removed from the final product, beta screenshots of this version do exist online. An Alice port for the then-unreleased PlayStation 2 was also in development but was later cancelled, which caused Rogue Entertainment to shut down, another decision which angered American McGee. The game's retail release was also noticeably less gory than the demo that had been released earlier.

The game was ultimately released on October 6, 2000, receiving praise for its visuals; the graphics were very elaborate for its time. Many levels depict a world of chaos and wonder, some reminiscent of the inside of an asylum or a madhouse, visually linking Wonderland to Alice's reality. The exterior views of Wonderland show the Queen of Hearts' tentacles dipping out of buildings and mountain sides, especially in Queensland.

Audio

American McGee's Alice Original Music Score

All of the music created for the fittingly twisted official American McGee's Alice soundtrack was written and performed by Chris Vrenna with the help of guitarist Mark Blasquez and singer Jessicka.^[5] Most of the sounds he used were created using toy instruments and percussion, music boxes (in a short documentary about the making of the game that appeared on TechTV, the music box used appears to be an antique Fisher-Price music box pocket radio), clocks, doors, and sampled female voices were manipulated into nightmarish soundscapes, including instances of them laughing maniacly, screaming, crying, and singing in an eerie, child-like way.

The music lends an eerie and horrifying feeling to the world Alice is in. The Pale Realm theme, as well as the track "I'm Not Edible", features the melody of the chorus of a popular children's song, "My Grandfather's Clock". In addition, there are many instances of the ticking and chiming of clocks being used as a musical accompaniment.

Marilyn Manson was originally involved scoring the music for the game.^[6] His composition has been described by American McGee as "very cool" and having "a very beautiful Beatles-in-their-harpsichord-and-Hookah-pipe-days-sound to it." Manson's contributions persisted into the final product, notably the influence of alchemy and the character of the Mad Hatter whose adaptation was somewhat influenced by him; for a time Manson was considered for the voice of the Hatter.^[7] Manson has indicated that the same music may be used in his forthcoming film Phantasmagoria: The Visions of Lewis Carroll.

American McGee's Alice Original Music Score was released on October 16, 2001 by Six Degrees Records. It features all twenty original compositions by former Nine Inch Nails live drummer and studio collaborator Chris Vrenna. It spans a 2-disc set, and includes a previously unreleased theme as well as a remix of "Flying on the Wings of Steam".

Legacy

Film adaptation

In December 2000, director Wes Craven signed on to develop a film adaptation of the game, with screenwriter John August hired to adapt the game for the big screen. American McGee had begun negotiations with Dimension Films 10 months before, with the studio committing to the project before Craven's signing.^[8] In September 2001, August explained that he had turned in a script treatment for Alice and was not attached to develop fuller drafts for the film adaptation.^[9] In February 2002, Dimension Films signed brother screenwriters Jon and Erich Hoeber to write the screenplay for Alice.^[10] In July 2003, the brothers announced that they had completed the script for the film adaptation.^[11]

In 2004 the project moved from Dimension Films to 20th Century Fox, but in 2005 Universal Pictures acquired the rights. As of June 2008, producer Scott Faye indicated the film was in "turnaround" from Universal. He admitted that the script needed development, but would be used to attract the attention of a new studio.^[12]

Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland is based on a similar premise of an older Alice returning to wonderland to free it from the Red Queen and kill the Jabberwocky.

Sequel

With a movie adaptation of American McGee's Alice in the making, Electronic Arts had also expressed interest in releasing a remake of the game, although initially it was unclear whether it would be a remake, an update, or a sequel.^[13]

On 19 February 2009, EA CEO John Riccitiello announced at D.I.C.E. 2009 that a new installment to the series is in the works for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. It is being developed by Spicy Horse, who recently worked on American McGee's Grimm.^[14][15][16] Two pieces of concept art were also released, depicting Alice and large allied birds fighting an oversized, semi-mechanized snail and its children on top of a lighthouse^[17], and Alice swimming in a pond, with the Cheshire Cat's face in the background.^[18] Although no official date has been announced, it is planned for release early 2011.^[19] As of 13/03/10, a pre-order has been available for the sequel, entitled "American McGee's Return of Alice, available for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC, with a release date of 25/03/11.^[20]

In November 2009, a fan-made video based on the Alice 2 announcement was mistaken by gaming websites as a teaser trailer for the game. In it, Alice is in therapy after a relapse nine months after the events of the first game, and appears to hallucinate an image of the Cheshire Cat in place of her doctor.^[21]

References

External links

• Official website, including teaser trailer
• American McGee's Alice at the Internet Movie Database
• American McGee's Alice at MobyGames
• Down the Rabbit Hole
• Comparison to Alice in Wonderland
• Concept art (near the bottom of page)

From Wikiquote

American McGee's Alice is a third-person shooter computer game designed by American McGee, developed by Rogue Entertainment, and published, distributed and marketed by Electronic Arts.

Alice

• Into the hole again, we hurried along our way, into a once-glorious garden now seeped in dark decay.

• Mange-ridden to the core, he leads me through the fray. With the toss of a Jackbomb, I clear abominations from our way.

• They taunt me about the burning as if I were to blame, I clear them from my conscious with the eloquence of my blade.

• If it's my keen invention you'd like to destroy, I'll withstand your best shot; I've got the right toy.

• Everyone I love dies violently; unnaturally. I'm cursed! Why go on? I'll just hurt others.

• Save myself from death, is that it? Is that why I've come here? I'm not afraid to die! At times I've welcomed death.

• "Mushrooms, poppies, sugar and spice, all those things are very nice. When combined, the proper mixture makes a getting small elixir." Hm. I don't really like sweets.

• Promise only what you are prepared to deliver. I am destined to do battle with the Red Queen. The outcome is uncertain.

• How many times must I tell you? I only take tea with friends!

• If ignorance is bliss, I must be ecstatic.

• Where does that smushy lay-about hang his hookah these days?
  • When talking about Caterpillar

• I enjoy the taste of mushrooms, but not the ones that bite back.

• I wish I were hallucinating. What a terrible choice: eat a toadstool or become food for insects!

• Such order in the midst of chaos makes me woozy and disoriented.

• I'm not edible.

• I fear nothing.

Cheshire Cat

Idle

• The uninformed must improve their deficit or die.

• To the royal guards of this realm, we are all victims-in-waiting.

• Only the foolish believe that suffering is just wages for being different.

• Only the insane equate pain with success.

• Only the savage regard the endurance of pain as a measure of worth.

• Only a few find the way; some don't recognize it when they do; some don't ever want to.

• What is sought is most often found, if it is truly sought.

• Tell yourself, "I've seen worse at Rutledge's." Prevarication in this instance may help.

• Every adventure requires a first step. Trite, but true, even here.
  • Paraphrase of Confucius, "Every journey begins with a single step"

• There's an ugly name for those who do things the hard way.

• When the remarkable becomes bizarre, reason turns rancid.

• I can't know everything. Pretend you're an orphan – oh! That was rude, you are.

• I suppose "experience teaches best", "learn by doing", and similar clichés have merit. Take their advice; I'm busy.

• Observe, learn, and react.

• Work if you must. It's my nature to unwind from time to time.

• I've heard self-reliance is a virtue. Now you've heard it.

• Whatever says too much of a good thing must be bad tells a lie.

• Whoever says too much of a good thing is not enough speaks the truth.

• He's not the brightest star in the sky, but he shines at one thing.
  • Referring to the white rabbit

Weapons and Powerups

• Meta-Essence is the life force of Wonderland; that of your enemies is especially potent. Collect what you can. Use it wisely.

• Your knife is necessary, but not sufficient. Always collect what's useful. Reject only your ignorance, and you might survive.
  • When Alice obtains the Vorpal Blade

• 52 pickup is a staple of juvenile humor. But when the deck slices and dices, it is no laughing matter.
  • When Alice obtains the Playing Cards

• Here's a riddle: When is a croquet mallet like a billy club? I'll tell you: whenever you want it to be.
  • When Alice obtains the Croquet Mallet

• Ah, the diabolical Dice … a word of caution; don't throw them when you're alone. The fiends lack loyalty, and their notion of nourishment is quite disturbing.
  • When Alice obtains the Demon Dice

• Jack's a friend, but his temperament is explosive; perhaps best to let him play by himself.
  • When Alice obtains the Jackbomb

• Withering cold incapacitates an enemy more completely than deep wounds, but winter does not last forever.
  • When Alice obtains the Icewand

• This simple game can turn distinctly nasty. Don't ever play alone.
  • When Alice obtains the Jacks o' Death

• The Jabberwock's Eyestaff is incomparably powerful, but its individual pieces are worth less than the carcass of a gnat.
  • When Alice obtains the first piece of the Jabberwock's Eyestaff

• The staff lacks only the Jabberwock's eye. Though he has two, I understand he's quite fond of them both. I doubt time will change his mind. Speaking of which, where's the Hatter?
  • When Alice obtains the penultimate piece of the Jabberwock's Eyestaff

• This unique watch stops time – for a time. Unlike Death, time moves on. Those who have stood still with time move on also – unless they're dead.
  • When Alice acquires the Deadtime Watch

• The Blunderbuss in the hands of a blockhead is a catastrophe waiting to happen. You're no dunderhead, but exercise great care.
  • When Alice obtains the Blunderbuss

• Time to raise some havoc! The dogs of war are loose!
  • When Alice obtains the first Ragebox power-up

• How fine you look when dressed in rage. Your enemies are fortunate that your condition is not permanent. And you're lucky too: red eyes suit so few.
  • When Alice obtains the second Ragebox power-up

• Those who say there's nothing like a nice cup of tea for calming the nerves never had real tea. It's like a syringe of adrenaline straight to the heart!
  • When Alice first drinks Grasshopper Tea

• What they can't see, they don't want to hear. You'll do better if you become uncorporeal.
  • When Alice finds a secret Darkened Looking glass

• Noisy creatures, crooks, and assorted voyeurs would love to be invisible. For you the option may be a matter of survival.

Miscellaneous

• The Guards are tools of the Queen. All suits are dolts, but dangerous.

• The Guards lack imagination; don't play with them, unless you're ready to deal.

• That savage shriek is just the tip of the iceberg that is the Boojums' repulsive personality.

• Boojums have revolting table manners. They'll eat anything. Dispose of them or become a meal.

• Protective walls may impede you, but the walls most difficult to penetrate are those that surround our hearts.

• Cling closely to the path, Alice. A fall will dash your head along with all our hopes.

• Entering Skool requires a real leap of logic.

• Steps to enlightenment brighten the way; but the steps are steep. Take them one at a time.

• Countless generations of termites would only digest a mere fraction of the volumes here. And they wouldn't be one wit wiser.

• This Skool serves more than nasty lunches. The laboratories are especially fascinating, if you can stand the vile stench.

• Gardeners store rat poison and weed killer in sheds. Skools have laboratories for that purpose.

• Nature has ordained that certain seeds require assistance to fulfill their destiny.

• Unplanted seeds dry out and die.

• Every picture tells a story. Sometimes we don't like the ending. Sometimes we don't understand it.

• Annihilate what threatens to destroy you.
  • As Alice faces the Duchess

• Is our situation not dismal? Wonderland is so discombobulated that ladybugs have turned belligerent and enlisted in the Queen's army. Punish their conversion.

• Haste makes waste, so I rarely hurry. But if a ferret was about to dart up my dress, I'd run.
  • Said in the demo as Alice confronts a troop of Army Ants' trap – a huge marble rolling towards her

• Confidence and rashness are sides of a single coin.

• I've never trusted toadstools, but I suppose some must have their good points.

• If your stature were an illness, it seems the Centipede dispenses medicine to make you well.

• I'm afraid I have to expell a rather ferocious hairball – you're on your own, girl.
  • Before Alice confonts the Voracious Centipede

• Look straight ahead. Or askance – whichever way you choose, you must always look in the right direction.

• "Seek and ye shall find," they say, but they don't say what you'll find.

• Paths that end in trouble are all the same – they only appear different when you don't know where they lead.

• Don't get spun, whirled, twisted, gyrated, sloshed or tossed. Avoid false moves.

• Since you know the rules, best play with Whites – they go first.

• The regularity of the board disguises the predatory menace of certain pieces.

• You know all the right moves; use them.

• Look, Alice. Though his elliptical essence is unrecognisable, it's wrong to think him worthless.
  • When Alice meets a silent and hopelessly broken Humpty-Dumpty

• You may have missed something – what's rubbish to one is salvation to another.

• Confront what frightens or offends you; reckless or insulting talk should never go unchallenged.

• Gryphon's an ideal partener; perhaps I'll just retreat for a nap.

• The vile creature is a killer, and even his words can wound.

• Find the Queen. Ignore her pledge to decapitate intruders … at your peril.

• Look for the Queen, but remember: she also has eyes for you.

• Time to jump in Time to jump through time. I'm dizzy.

• Defeat looms over your allies; total ruin will consume us unless you destroy the Queen. End this carnage; go to the Castle Keep; you are our only hope for survival.

• The Queen, the Queen, my lower incisors for the queen. Where is that wretched creature?

• Bravery and I are not on intimate terms – my natural curiosity is tempered with caution, thus I've lived long. But now, ignoring my instict to flee or fib, I speak the truth without regard to consequence; your courage deserves no less. You've suffered great pain, and you've caused some. You've endured deep grief and feelings of guilt, but you will be tested by a more wrenching anguish, Alice. There is worse to come. You and this Red Queen cannot both survive; you are two parts of the same – mia-meow!

Mad Hatter

• Your hair wants cutting, and perhaps your neck could use a trim!

• I like what I do is the same as I do what I like, don't you agree? So I do.

• The Queen accused me of murdering time! Very wrong – I have another object in mind.

• If you knew time as well as I, you wouldn't dream of wasting it!

The Red Queen

• Off … with … her … head …

• I rule Wonderland alone. Your interference will not be tolerated. This realm is for grown-ups; raw, well-ordered, ruthless, careening on the jagged edge of reality. Self-pitying dreamers are not wanted here; they cannot survive here. You fear the truth. You live in shadows. Your pathetic attempts to reclaim your sanity have failed. Retreat into the sterile safety of your self-delusions, or risk inevitable annihilation. If you destroy me, you'll destroy yourself. Leave now and some hollow part of you may survive. Stay, and I will break you down. You will lose yourself forever!

Dialogue

Alice: You've gone quite mangy, Cat. But your grin's a comfort.

Cheshire Cat: And you've picked up a bit of an attitude. Still curious and willing to learn, I hope?

Alice: Wonderland's become quite strange. How is one to find her way?

Cheshire Cat: As knowing where you're going is preferable to being lost, ask. Rabbit knows a thing or two, and I, myself, don't need a weathervane to tell which way the wind blows. Let your need guide your behaviour; suppress your instinct to lead; pursue Rabbit.

Alice: Everyone seems completely dejected. Are things really as bad as all that?

Torch Gnome: The truth would reduce yer to a blubberin' baby. Are you the savior Rabbit has been tellin' us about all this time?

Alice: I shouldn't think so. I'm a person … and just now I wish to get very small … about this big.

Torch Gnome: Calls for serious twistin'. Yeh'll need to go sideways, not forward. If I knew how, I'd go sideways meself.

Alice: Not twisted. Small. I wish to become about this big.

Torch Gnome: The Fortress of Doors holds such secrets … but it will take more than a wish to get inside.

Cheshire Cat: Doors have locks, locks need keys, which you don't have. Let's hope the Doors are open.

Alice: And if not, there may be more than one way to skin a cat, if you'll pardon the expression.

Cheshire Cat: Most unpleasant metaphor. Please avoid it in future.

Torch Gnome: Rabbit told us a champion would come. Are you that champion?

Alice: Perhaps. Can you get inside the Fortress Of Doors?

Torch Gnome: Oh, no! I wouldn't dare! Since the upheaval we've all become gutless half-wits. I can barely risk crossin' the road!

Gnome Elder: Why do you pursue me to this … deserted place?

Alice: To benefit from your wisdom.

Gnome Elder: Even blurred vision is valued by the blind. If I were clever, would I cower in this slag heap? I'm not wise, girl. I've just … grown old.

Alice: I wish to get very small. Do you know how I might do that?

Gnome Elder: Only that? Oh yes. I could manage that … for a price.

Alice: I have nothing of value.

Gnome Elder: You have nerve and your health. Mine are nearly gone. I've seen too much suffering. And I smoke too much, you see.

Alice: There is no lock, but it won't open. It's stuck.

Cheshire Cat: Think of it as a Chinese Box or a stubborn lid. A tap in the right spot might do the trick.

[Alice looks thoughtfully at The Book of Bizzare Things and kicks it off a ledge; it lands on the ground several floors below, and grudgingly opens]

Cheshire Cat: You call that a tap?! Fortunate I didn't suggest "force" – you might have pulverized it.

Bill: Psst. Over 'ere.

Alice: Don't I know you?

Bill: Bill McGill at ya service. Call me Larry. Or not. Got any brandy?

Alice: No. I've only my wits.

Bill: Then you have nuffing. Wits are useless 'ere. Everythink is downside up.

Alice: I must see the Duchess.

Bill: Impossible. She only sees those who don't wish to see her.

Alice: That's not right.

Bill: S'perfect. She's s'posed ta be hidin' from the Red Queen who wants her dead.

Alice: Her head?

Bill: That too. Ruins me home – builds this monstrosity. She's as mad as monkey mash! And just as tasteless. Well, never mind, we'll all perish soon enough. Sure you've no brandy?

Duchess: Come closer, my little chick … mmm, properly seasoned you'd make a handsome dish.

Alice: I'm not edible.

Duchess: Not a full meal, certainly. But a light snack, I think!

Alice: I'll have the turtle shell now, you disgusting ogre!

Duchess: Over my dead body!

Alice: I'll try to accommodate you!

Tweedledee: Look, 'Dum, it's whatshername from the neurotics ward! Nurse's favourite lunatic.

Tweedledum: Oh yeah? Scrawney, ain't she? Who let her out, then? They'll blame us, most like.

Tweedledee: She'll need more medicine. Strong medicine.

Tweedledum: She got anything to eat?

Tweedledee: Doubt it. She never finishes her grub at the asylum. If she had any meat on her, she'd make a delectable dish!

Alice: Despicable, grotesque and smelly louts – I'll fill your bellies, all right!

Cheshire Cat: The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

Alice: Spare me the platitude. Do you have any useful advice?

Cheshire Cat: Use their size against them!

Mad Hatter: Bad timing. Pity. Reliable help is so hard to find these days. Come in, my dear. You're just in time for tea.

Alice: I only take mine with friends.

Mad Hatter: Count me to be among them. Accurately. I mean, honestly. That's the truth. Oh, I quite forgot. You and the truth are not on familiar terms.

Alice: And you would know?!

Mad Hatter: Truth is always bitter to those who fear it.

Alice: I fear nothing.

Mad Hatter: False. You fear much; a return trip to the asylum, for example … the memories that drove you there … more years in, shall we say, supervised hospitalization … ah yes, you fear much. Of course, all that might be avoided.

Alice: How? Tell me! What do you mean?

March Hare: Dormy! Wake up! Someone's come to release us!

Dormouse: It's just a human … probably useless … [yawns]

March Hare: Undo us, please, from this contraption!

Dormouse: Or you could give us tea … if you prefer …

Alice: Were you impolite at table? Did you slurp your tea, or talk while chewing? Confess your crime!

March Hare: We've done nothing of the kind! It's the Hatter … he's gone quite mad, I do say so! Speaking of which; how is the Queen of Hearts not like a typhoon?

Alice: Both are powerful, destructive and indiscriminately cruel. But the typhoon doesn't mean to be.

March Hare: Good answer! Wrong … but good!

Alice: Oh! I beg your pardon! You are in real danger! Where is your host?

Dormouse: Real danger? Are we? Really? Hare … I wish to go home … evidently I have worn out my welcome …

March Hare: The Hatter will be here at six! Sharp as clockwork!

Dormouse: Misses no opportunity to deny us our tea … most cruel, I'm sure … and his medicine makes me tired … [yawns]

Alice: Those two seem to barely comprehend their situation.

Gryphon: They're blithering idiots. But the Hatter does come at six on the dot.

Alice: For his tea?

Gryphon: No. To check his cruel experiments. With gears, springs, levers and mechanical gizzards, he seeks an impossible precision. Like a watchmaker obsessed with infinitesimal fractions of seconds, or a mathematician who tries to square the circle. He'll turn all the inhabitants into his Automatons, or kill them in the attempt.

Alice: That's simply awful! Six o' clock, you say?

Gryphon: Six precisely, by that clock.

Alice: [looking thoughtfully at a clock whose hands are rotating in opposite directions, never reaching six o' clock] Hmm … perhaps six comes early today.

The Jabberwock: You've kept me waiting, Alice. Have you never heard that punctuality's a virtue?

Alice: You and my dentist's assistant have much in common.

The Jabberwock: You're habitually late, aren't you? Between your dim-witted daydreaming and your preening vanity, the hours just fly by; there's barely time for anything else.

Alice: That the best you can do? Hurl second-rate insults? They don't hurt …

The Jabberwock: Your family was expecting you to come to them, weren't they? Perhaps they thought you might warn them of the danger … being close to the source, as you were. But they waited in vain, didn't they, and died for their trouble.

Alice: We were all asleep. It was an accident! I –

The Jabberwock: You selfish, misbegotten and unnatural child! You smelled the smoke, but you were in dreamland taking tea with your friends. You couldn't be bothered. Your room was protected and spared while your family upstairs roasted in an inferno of incredible horror!

Alice: Nooooooo!

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American McGee's Alice

From Wikia Gaming, your source for walkthroughs, games, guides, and more!

American McGee's Alice is a game released for the Mac and PC-compatibles that is based directly off of Lewis Carroll's clasic book, "Alice's Adventures In Wonderland".

Story

Following what took place in the story, Alice's house is burned down in a fire, killing her parents, and causing her as the only survivor to feel guilty and suicidal. She is taken into Rutledge Asylum where, years later, she is summoned by the White Rabbit to aid a radically altered Wonderland that is under the despotic rule of the Queen of Hearts. The Cheshire Cat serves as her constant companion through a Wonderland that has been corrupted by Alice's insanity, appearing to guide her with cryptic clues.

Gameplay

The game takes place in nine provinces which comprise the horribly corrupted Wonderland, with Alice starting off in the Village Of The Doomed. Along the way she encounters characters that include altered versions of those from Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, and picks up weapons to use against her adversaries which include Jacks O'Death, Demon Dice, razor-sharp cards, and Jack-in-the-Box bombs.

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